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2014 honorary bat girl contest winners announced

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Press Release |

Major League Baseball today announced the winners of the 2014 Honorary Bat Girl Contest, which recognizes baseball fans who have been affected by breast cancer and who demonstrate a commitment to eradicating the disease. Winners selected to represent each of the 30 MLB Clubs, which for the first time includes husband and wife co-winners who are both survivors, will be recognized on-field at Major League ballparks on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 11th or an alternative date for away Clubs.

The complete list of winners is located in the below chart and each of the winner's stories can be found on HonoraryBatGirl.com.

Fans from across the country and Canada shared inspirational stories that provide hope and motivation in the fight against breast cancer, as well as the reasons they or their nominees should represent their favorite team. The 31 Honorary Bat Girl winners were selected by fan votes on HonoraryBatGirl.com along with feedback from a Guest Judging Panel that included Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays, Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves, Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants, country music superstar and Atlanta Braves fan Jason Aldean, and Sam Ryan, MLB Network host and reporter.

During MLB's annual Mother's Day national day of recognition, the Honorary Bat Girl winners will take part in pre-game activities, be honored during an on-field ceremony, and receive pink MLB merchandise with two tickets to the game. For Clubs that are away on Mother's Day, another home game later in May will be selected to recognize their Honorary Bat Girl.

Players and on-field personnel will wear the symbolic pink ribbon on their uniforms along with pink wrist bands. Commemorative base jewels and dugout lineup cards will also be pink. Games will use a pink stitched Rawlings baseball, the official ball of MLB, as the official game day baseball. Numerous MLB players will use pink bats and pink Louisville Slugger bats, the Official Bat of Major League Baseball, will be stamped with the MLB breast cancer awareness logo. Many game-used Louisville Slugger pink bats from Mother's Day games that have been authenticated by MLB will be auctioned exclusively on MLB.com to benefit the fight against breast cancer.

Following is the list of all 2014 Honorary Bat Girl Contest winners (Clubs in alphabetical order).

CLUB

CONTEST WINNER

Arizona Diamondbacks

Carol Wells

Atlanta Braves

Lori Smith

Baltimore Orioles

Debra Nelson

Boston Red Sox

Barbara Knox

Chicago Cubs

Lisa Kates

Chicago White Sox

Vanessa Parzatka

Cincinnati Reds

Patty Stump + Mike Schroeder

(Husband and Wife Co-Winners)

Cleveland Indians

Charlene Wuthrich

Colorado Rockies

Carrie Kollmar

Detroit Tigers

Ann Chapaton

Houston Astros

Tammy Roberts

Kansas City Royals

Paige Lollar

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Danielle Adams

Los Angeles Dodgers

Isela Diaz

Miami Marlins

Beth Armstrong

Milwaukee Brewers

Lisa Zalazoski

Minnesota Twins

Becky Gesswein

New York Mets

Stefanie Lesnik

New York Yankees

Elizabeth Tague

Oakland Athletics

Kristin Goldthorpe

Philadelphia Phillies

Terry Moser

Pittsburgh Pirates

Cathy McGrath

San Diego Padres

Lorraine Hutchinson

San Francisco Giants

Eleanor Uhlinger

Seattle Mariners

Donna Person-Smith

St. Louis Cardinals

Karen Neal

Tampa Bay Rays

Connie Webb

Texas Rangers

Sheila Taylor

Toronto Blue Jays

Tracy Gavrielides

Washington Nationals

Annie Arensdorf

The Honorary Bat Girl program was introduced in 2009 to raise additional awareness and support for the annual "Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer" initiative celebrated on Mother's Day. In five years, thousands of unique testimonials have been submitted and more than 4 million fan votes have been cast. Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer is a Major League Baseball initiative supported by its charitable partners Stand Up To Cancer and Susan G. Komen. This initiative raises awareness about the breast cancer cause, while also raising funds to support breast cancer research.